Crop Protection

The Crop Protection Division focuses on undertaking research on plant pathogens, insects and plant parasitic nematodes and provides specialized services to the spice growers to protect their plants from pests and diseases.The Division is very strongly focused on developing eco-friendly, integrated management schedules to minimize the use of pesticides and reduce their risk, to obtain safe and clean spices.

Manpower

At present twelve scientists belonging to disciplines like Plant Pathology, Entomology, Nematology and Microbiology are working in this Division.

Name	Designation	Specialization
Dr. Santhosh J Eapen	Principal Scientist & Head	Nematology, Bioinformatics
Dr. R Suseela Bhai	Principal Scientist	Plant Pathology
Dr. A Ishwara Bhat	Principal Scientist	Plant Pathology
Dr. C M Senthil Kumar	Senior Scientist	Entomology
Dr. C N Biju	Senior Scientist	Plant Pathology
Dr. R Praveena	Scientist	Plant Pathology
Dr. C Sarathambal	Scientist	Agri. Microbiology
Dr. Mohammed Faisal Peeran	Scientist	Plant Pathology
Dr. A Jeevalatha	Scientist	Plant Pathology
Dr. C Sellaperumal	Scientist	Nematology
Dr. M Balaji Rajkumar	Scientist	Entomology
Ms. C K Chandravally	Technical Officer	Plant Pathology
Ms. Hridya	Technical Assistant
Research Fellows
Ms. Blessy M Baby	CSIR Fellow	Bioinformatics
Ms. Subila K P	Research Assistant	Plant Pathology
Ms. Alka Nasser	CSIR Fellow	Botany
Ms. Mery Rincy K	KSCSTE Fellow	Biotechnology
Ms. Anju Mohandas	KSCSTE Fellow	Biotechnology
Dr. Ahamed Mujtaba	Junior Research Fellow	Biotechnology
Ms. Karthika C S	UGC Fellow	Botany
Ms. Fathimath Zumaila	UGC Fellow	Botany
Ms. Megha Das	UGC Fellow	Botany
Ms. Sumayya	JRF	Biotechnology

Major Achievements

Over the last three decades the Division has established the etiology and epidemiology of major diseases of spices, surveyed the spice growing areas of the country and catalogued the major pests and pathogens and developed integrated pest/disease management measures to control them. In pursuit of clean spices without any pesticide residues, the Division is actively engaged in developing pest/disease resistant lines and biocontrol agents that suppress the pathogens. Notable among the resistant lines developed are IISR Shakti (Phytophthora resistant black pepper line), Pournami (root knot nematode resistant black pepper line), IISR Vijetha (‘Katte’ resistant cardamom selection), IISR Avinash (rhizome rot resistant cardamom line), IISR Mahima (root knot nematode resistant ginger selection) and IISR Pragati (root knot nematode tolerant turmeric selection). The efficient strains of biocontrol agents developed by the Division like Trichoderma harzianum, Pseudomonas spp., Pochonia chlamydosporia, Lecanicillium psalliote etc. are quite popular among the farming community and are successfully commercialized. Highly reliable and sensitive diagnostic tools have been standardized for rapid detection of viruses, bacteria, fungi and nematodes infecting spices.

Research Programs

The major problems handled by the scientists of the Division are Phytophthora foot rot, slow decline, anthracnose, viral diseases of black pepper, rhizome rot and viral diseases of cardamom, soft rot and bacterial wilt of ginger, foliar diseases of turmeric and diseases of vanilla. Besides, insect and nematode problems of these spices are also addressed. Some of the ongoing research projects are:

Project VII. Bio-Intensive management of pests in spices (Project leader: Dr. C.M. Senthil Kumar)

1. Ent. XIV (813): Survey and documentation of naturally occurring entomopathogens in spice cropping systems (2012-2018) [Dr. C.M. Senthil Kumar, Dr. T.K. Jacob & Dr. M. Balaji Rajkumar]

2. ICAR-ORP 3: Outreach programme on management of sucking pests in horticultural crops: (2009-2019) [Dr. T.K. Jacob, Dr. M. Balaji Rajkumar & Dr. C.M. Senthil Kumar]

3. ICAR-CP 1. ICAR-Consortium research project on borers in network mode (2014-2019) [Dr. C.M. Senthil Kumar, Dr. T.K. Jacob & Dr. M. Balaji Rajkumar]

Project VIII. Integrated management of fungal and bacterial diseases of spices (Project leader: Dr. R. Suseela Bhai)

4. Crop. Prot. 1.5 (813): Integrated management of Phytophthora foot rot and slow decline diseases of black pepper (2008-2018) [Dr. R. Suseela Bhai, Dr. Santhosh J. Eapen, Dr. C. Sellaperumal & Dr. T.P. Ahammed Shabeer, NRCG, Pune]

5. Path. XXIV (813): Surveillance, documentation and development of decision support system for pests and diseases of major spice crops (2016-2020) [Dr C.N. Biju, Dr. Santhosh J. Eapen, Dr. Santhosh J. Eapen, Dr. T. K. Jacob, Dr. R. Suseela Bhai, Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat, Dr. C. M. Senthil Kumar, Dr. R. Praveena, Dr. Mohammed Faisal Peeran, Dr. C. Sarathambal, Dr. M. Balaji Rajkumar, Dr. Lijo Thomas, Dr. C. Sellaperumal, Dr. A. Jeevalatha & Mr. K. Jayarajan]

6. Path. XXV (813): Spatiotemporal dynamics in relation to ecology and epidemiology of fungal foliar diseases in ginger and turmeric and management (2016-2020) [Dr. R.Praveena, Dr. R. Suseela Bhai, Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat, Dr. K S. Krishnamurthy, Dr. A. Jeevalatha & Dr. C. Sarathambal)

7. Path. XXVI (813): Revisiting wilt diseases of vanilla and exploitation of associated microbiome for its management (2016-2019) [Dr. Mohammed Faisal Peeran, Dr. C. Sarathambal& Dr. M. Alagupalamuthirsolai & Ms. Aarthi S.]

Project IX. Development of diagnostic kits and integrated management of viral diseases of spices (Project leader: Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat)

8. DST CP-I: Identification, characterisation and development of diagnostics for unknown viruses associated with cardamom and ginger(2016-2019) [Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat & Dr. C. N. Biju]

9. DBT CP-VII: Characterization of episomal and endogenous pararetro-viruses infecting black pepper (2018-2021) [Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat & Dr K.S. Krishnamurthy]

10. Path. XXVII (813): Development of microbial biostimulants for growth promotion and disease resistance in major spices (2018-2021)[Dr. C. Sarathambal, Dr. A. Jeevalatha, Dr. Mohammed Faisal Peeran & Ms. R. Sivaranjani]

11. Path. XXVIII (813): Novel strategies for managing bacterial wilt and soft rot diseases of ginger (2018-2022) [Dr. R. Suseela Bhai, Dr. Biju C.N. & Dr. Mohammed Faizal Peeran]

12. Nema. VII (813): Prevalence of lesion nematodes in turmeric growing tracts of India and their economic significance (2018-2022) [Dr. C. Sellaperumal, Dr. Santhosh J Eapen & Dr. R. Praveena]